Swing.



No. 859,212- PATENTED JULY 9, 1907.

' J. P. GERTHOFPER.

SWING.

, APPLICATION rmm ran. 16, 1901.

WITNESSES iNVENTOR A ORNEY THE mzmzls PETERS cm, w4smuaran, n. c.

No. 859,212. PATENTED JULY 9, 1907.

V J. F. GERTHOFFER.

- SWING.

APPLIOATION nun r113. 16. 1901.

' 2 SHEETSBHBET 2.

v WITNESSES: INVENTOR m a4 W WWW g 4 0 menu Y n: mmms PETERS ca.wAsmno-ron, n. c.

UNITED STATES JOSEPH F. GERTHOFFER, OF ESSEXVILLE, MICHIGAN.

SWING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1907.

Application filed February 16, 1907. Serial No. 357,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, losnrn F. Gnnrnorrnn, a citi zen of the UnitedStates, residing at Essexville, in the county of Bay and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Swings;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to swings, and more particularly to that class ofdevices having two suspension rods on each side, one pair supporting theseat and the remaining pair secured to a foot-rest near its forward end,one object being the provision of a device of this description, simplein construction, inexpensive to manufacture and safe in use.

Another object is the provision of means for assisting the occupant inoscillating the swing.

A further object is the provision of means tending to increase thecomfort of the occupant of the swing. And a still further object is theprovision of novel means for limiting the pivotal movement of the seatto prevent injury to the occupant.

To these and other ends, my invention consists in certain novel featuresand combinations such as will be more fully described hereinafter andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a. perspective view of a swingequipped with my invention, Fig. 2 is a side view thereof and Fig. 3 isa detail view of the bracket.

(A) (A) indicate any suitable supports to which the suspension rods (1)(1) are pivotall secured in any convenient manner, as by means ofeye-bolts and staples (2) (2), for instance. There are two pairs ofsuspension rods, one pair on each side of the swing, the rods beingcrossed, as illustrated, and at'their lower ends, they are pivotallysecured in any suitable manner to the rockers (3) (3) connected by theslats (4.) (4) to form a foot-rest or treadle. It will be noted that thesuspension rods (1") secured at their upper ends to the rear support (A)or rearwardly oi the pivotal connection of the rods (1) (l) with thesupport, are connected at their lower ends some distance back of theforward ends of the rockers (3) (3), thus causing the rods (1) (1) tocross each other and also to permit the forward ends of the rockers tobe raised at an angle or inclined relative to the seat, so that the feetof the occupant will rest squarely on the slats (4) (4). This l is foundto be especially useful when the swing is out of its vertical positionshown in Fig. 2, the inclination of the foot-board relative to the seatremaining practically the same whether the swing is moving in onedirection or the other. The position of the occupant is made morecomfortable by attaching the rods (1) back from the forward ends of therockers, as Well as permitting the occupant to exert a greater pressureagainst the toot-board to oscillate the swing.

The rods (1) (1) support a seat (5) of any convenient type having aback, the seat being secured to the upper end of brackets (6) whoselower ends are pivotally secured to the rods (1) (1). The brackets areprovided with lugs or other stops (7) (7) adapted to contact With oneedge or the other of the suspension rods (1) to limit the rockingmovement of the seat relative to the rods and prevent the occupant frombeing dislodgedfrom the seat by an excess pivotal movement in onedirection or the other, Furthermore, in order to facilitate the comfortof the occupant as well as to increase the ease with which the swing maybe oscillated, I preferably provide the springs (8) (8) connecting theback of the seat with the suspension rods (1) (1). These springs retainthe seat in a normal position when the swing is idle, but when inoperation, the occupant by pressing his feet against the foot-boardcauses the swing to move backward, the springs serving to cushion thebackward movement of the seat and brackets so that the stops (7 will notbring up abruptly against the edges of the suspension rods 1) and jarthe occupant. The supports (A) (A) should be as close together as ispossible without sacrificing too much power, as the closer the supportsare to each other, the more comfortable is the swing.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim as new is A swingcomprising pairs of suitably supported crossed suspension rods, a singlefoot rest to which the lower ends of all the rods are pivotally secured,the lower ends of the forwardly extending rods being secured to the footrest some distance back of the forward end thereof, a seat, bracketscarried by the seat, the brackets pivotally secured to the rearwardlyextending rods, stops carried by the brackets and adapted to engage therearwardly extending reds, and springs connecting the seat andrearwardly extending rods.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOSEPH F. GERTI'IOFFER.

Witnesses:

W. Lnacn, RALPH S. WAnFI'nLo.

